Adnan Al-Moussa Al-Farmali = A Hero

Prior to joining Syria Civil Defence, Adnan suffered a personal tragedy when he lost his house and his wife to artillery shelling that hit his home.

Adnan tells his story, saying: “It was the worst day of my life. I left the house to get some food, and while I was gone, surrounding checkpoints started shelling the area, and one of the rockets hit my house.

"I hurried home to check on my family, and the fire was burning everything. My wife was in the corner, screaming and crying for help after she lost both her arms, and wounds were covering her body.

"I could not move, lost my strength, and no longer knew where I was or what was happening.

"I started screaming for help, but to no avail, so I gathered all my strength and carried my wife, while crying and screaming ‘Oh God! Oh God!’ People raced to my house to put out the fire, and some helped me in attending to my wife, who passed away after we arrived to the hospital.

"I never got over losing my wife and my home since that day. Not a day passes by without me thinking what could have prevented this tragedy.”

A few months after joining Civil Defence, Adnan responded with his team to a cluster bomb attack by Russian aircraft, which left five civilians dead and forty injured.

While they were searching for survivors, Adnan heard a little girl’s voice calling “Mom! Mom!” But her mother had passed away.

“When I saw the little girl, I felt as if she was my own daughter. I ran quickly toward her, carried her, and attended to her with three other wounded people in the only ambulance we have. I had to hold her close to my chest, and was listening very carefully to her heart beats, I was not listening to anything else around me except her slowing heart beats. We arrived to the hospital and she needed an operation, but she did not survive. I held her one last time, crying, and hoping for a moment that I could hear her heart beats that I will never forget, as long as I live. But sometimes, death prevails.”

Adnan and his team attended the girl’s burial with her family and took an oath to continue their work.